The present invention relates to the field of fluid distribution systems and, more particularly, to systems for controlling fluid distribution.
Over the years, technology has been slow to develop for heavy duty vehicles for various reasons. For example, much of the technology involves heavy mechanical systems which can be difficult to translate to electronic software based systems. Also, there have been little or no standards in electronic systems for these types of vehicles. Further, many of these heavy duty vehicles include tractor/trailers-type vehicles or trucks which often involve an owner who owns a fleet of these vehicles. Accordingly, because these vehicles are often already on the road or in use, it can be expensive and difficult to retrofit existing vehicles. Meanwhile, manufacturers of new vehicles also are hesitant to install advanced equipment because of the expense and the fear of acceptance by drivers and others in the industry.
Nevertheless, some data communications standards for heavy duty vehicles have arisen over the years, such as Society of Automotive Engineering (xe2x80x9cSAExe2x80x9d) standard J1708 and SAR standard J1939. Accordingly, more and more electronic and software systems are slowly being accepted. The fluid distribution industry, however, has been even more slow to accept these technology changes. For example, not only for the reasons set forth above exist, but these industries also often involve potentially dangerous or explosive materials, e.g., petroleum based fuels, which emit fumes that can readily ignite if an electrical spark or other type of spark initiates surrounding fumes.
Some data communications systems for heavy duty vehicles that have been adopted include built in data communication terminals mounted in the cab of heavy duty tractor trailer vehicles. Examples of such systems can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,168 by Stephens et al. titled xe2x80x9cFluid Register System,xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,819 by Ryan titled xe2x80x9cFluid Delivery Control Apparatus,xe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,522 by Ryan titled xe2x80x9cFluid Delivery Control Apparatus.xe2x80x9d These prior patents, however, fail to appreciate the need for systematic monitoring and controlling of fuel distribution and data communications for such distribution and fail to appreciate the need for careful handling of such data communication systems especially in potentially explosive or environmentally hazardous fluid distribution environments. Further, these prior systems also fail to appreciate driver constraints when receiving instructions for deliveries, making deliveries, and loading and unloading fluid at various delivery and receiving sites.
In view of the foregoing background, the present invention advantageously provides a fluid monitoring and distribution-apparatus for monitoring fluid distribution in heavy duty vehicles. The present invention also advantageously provides fluid monitoring and distribution and associated methods which provide data communication through data links which inhibit potentially explosive electronics being mounted in explosive sensitive areas of a vehicle and fluid metering systems. The present invention additionally provides a readily portable data communication terminal for a driver which allows the driver to walk among the potentially explosive environment with little fear of explosive potential being initiated from the data communication terminal and yet provides effective data communication between the driver, the heavy duty vehicle, fluid delivery location, and a main dispatching office. The present invention further advantageously provides an effective fluid delivery tracking and monitoring system which can be readily installed and retrofitted into existing vehicles and can also be initially installed on new vehicles in a cost effective manner.
More particularly, a system and associated methods for monitoring fluid distribution for heavy duty vehicles are provided. The system advantageously includes a first handheld RF data communications terminal. The handheld RF-data terminal preferably includes a portable housing readily adapted to be positioned in the hand of a driver of a heavy duty vehicle and a first RF transceiver connected to the portable housing for transmitting and receiving RF data communications to thereby interface with a heavy duty vehicle driver to collect data from customer fluid delivery locations. The system also includes at least one heavy duty vehicle adapted to transport fluid and a second vehicle data communications terminal preferably mounted to the at least one heavy duty vehicle. The second data communications terminal preferably includes a second RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving RF data communications. The system additionally includes at least one fluid storage tank positioned at a customer fluid delivery location for receiving and storing fluid transported by the heavy duty vehicle. The fluid storage tank preferably includes tank identifying means for identifying the tank and adapted to be received by the data collection device of the first handheld data collection terminal. The system further includes a main office data monitoring and dispatching data terminal associated with a main office. The main office data terminal preferably includes a third RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving data communications to and from the vehicle data communication terminal to thereby provide dispatching instructions from a main office user to the heavy duty vehicle and the vehicle driver.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for monitoring fluid distribution for a fleet of heavy duty vehicles adapted to transport fluid is provided. The system preferably includes a plurality of first handheld RF data communications terminals. Each of the plurality of handheld terminals includes a portable housing readily adapted to be positioned in the hand of a driver of a heavy duty vehicle, a first RF transceiver connected to the portable housing for transmitting and receiving RF data communications, a first processor mounted in the housing for processing data communications, a first user interface connected to the processor and to an external surface of the portable housing for interfacing with a heavy duty vehicle driver, and a data collection device connected to the processor and to the portable housing for collecting data from customer fluid delivery locations.
The system also includes a fleet of heavy duty vehicles adapted to transport fluid and a plurality of second vehicle data communications terminals each mounted to one of the fleet of heavy duty vehicles. Each of the plurality of second vehicle data communications terminals preferably includes a second RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving RF data communications, a second processor for processing data communications, and a second user interface for interfacing with a driver of a heavy duty vehicle.
The system additionally preferably includes at least one fluid storage tank positioned at a customer fluid delivery location-for receiving and storing fluid transported by the heavy duty vehicle. The fluid storage tank preferably includes tank identifying means for identifying the tank and adapted to be received by the data collection device of each of the plurality of first handheld data collection terminals.
The system further preferably includes a main office data monitoring and dispatching terminal associated with a main office for monitoring and dispatching fuel distribution data to the fleet of heavy duty vehicles. The main office terminal preferably includes a third RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving data communications to and from each of the plurality of second vehicle data communication terminals, a third processor connected to the third RF transceiver for processing data communications, and a third user monitoring and dispatching interface for monitoring fluid distribution data and for providing dispatching instructions from a main office user.
The present invention also advantageously includes methods of monitoring and distributing fluid to customers. A method of monitoring fluid distribution for heavy duty vehicles preferably includes providing a first handheld RF data communications terminal. The first handheld RF data communications terminal includes a first RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving data communications and a data collection device for collecting data from customer fluid delivery locations. The method also includes providing a second vehicle data communications terminal mounted to the at least one heavy duty vehicle. Each of the second data communications terminals includes a second RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving RF data communications. The method additionally includes providing at least one fluid storage tank positioned at a customer fluid delivery location for receiving and storing fluid transported by the heavy duty vehicle. The fluid storage tank preferably includes a tank identifier for identifying the tank and adapted to be received by the data collection device of the first handheld data collection terminal. The method further includes providing a main office data monitoring and dispatching terminal associated with a main office for monitoring and dispatching fuel distribution data to the at least one heavy duty vehicles. The main office terminal includes a third RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving data communications to and from the vehicle data communication terminal.
Another method of monitoring fluid distribution for heavy duty vehicles preferably includes collecting tank identifying data from at least one fluid storage tank positioned at a customer fluid delivery location with a handheld RF data communications terminal, transmitting the tank identifying data to a vehicle RF data communications terminal mounted to a heavy duty vehicle adapted to transport fluid thereon, and transmitting the tank identifying data from the vehicle data communications terminal to a main office monitoring and dispatching terminal. The main office monitoring and dispatching terminal preferably includes an RF data communications transceiver associated therewith for transmitting and receiving RF data communications.
Yet another method of monitoring fluid distribution for heavy duty vehicles preferably includes providing at least one fluid storage tank at a customer fluid delivery location. The at least one fluid storage tank includes a tank meter for metering fluid flowing to and from the tank and an RF transceiver associated with the at least one tank and responsive to the tank meter. The method also includes transmitting metering data from the RF transceiver to a handheld RF data communications terminal, transmitting metering data from the handheld RF data communications terminal to a vehicle RF data communications terminal mounted to a heavy duty vehicle adapted to transport fluid thereon,.and transmitting metering data from the vehicle RF data communications terminal to a main office monitoring and dispatching terminal. The main office monitoring and dispatching terminal preferably includes an RF data communications transceiver associated therewith for transmitting and receiving data communications.